Title: Blessings
Text: John 21:1-14
This message was preached by Rev. Anthony Hamilton Worship leader of Calvary Assembly of God
Blessing= a special favor, mercy, or benefit, a favor or gift bestowed by god, thereby bringing happiness.
God wants to bless us. Do you belive that? God loves us and wants to bless us everyday. Everything that comes from God is a blessing. Every good and perfect goft comes from above. So does God give us everything we want. No. He blesses us so that we can grow and become more like Jesus. He only wants the best for our lives. When you have an encounter with Jesus, you never leave empty handed, you should always leave blessed. When you leave today, you should feel blessed just from being in His presence. All thru Jesus's ministry, we see Him blessing people everywhere He went. Jesus is here today and He wants to bless us.
But sometimes, our idea of a blessing boxes God in. His idea of a blessing is so much more wonderful then what we usually think of. Our limited monds can only think of earthly things.. Gods blessings are heavenly blessings. We think of money and things.. He is so much greater then that. God's idea of blessings are the realm of salvation, eternal life, forgiveness, healings, miracles and the Holy Spirit.
Today, I want to look in John 21:1-14 and look at how we can be blessed by encountering Jesus. Lets get in the boat and go fishing..
Most fish stories are about the one that got away.. Not when you go fishing with Jesus. Lets read
John 21:1-14.
He said Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
1.REACT - We need to say yes to God with an obedient and faithful heart. How many of us here today want to say Yes to God. God I will do what you say. He doesn't want us struggling anymore. He wants us to have breakthroughs. Today. When Peter heard this man say, hey, throw your net over the right side, he did it. Peter said Yes. If he didn't throw his net over the right side, Peter would have missed out on a blessing for himself, for the disciple with him and for the whole church. Peter could have told the guy how he was fishing all night, or he could have told the guy he was crazy or to mind his own business since Peter was a professional fisherman. Have we ever told God no. I can't do that God, thats crazy. I can't do that God, I'm scared. I can't do that God, I know what I am doing, I got this, I know a better way. I can't do that God, fill in the blank. well, every time we say no to God, we miss out on a heavenly blessing for ourselves and probably for the whole church. We need to remember that God is bigger than any situation. When God wants to bless us, we need to say yes. I say Yes, God bless us, God heal us, Yes, God deliver us from our addictions and sinful ways. How many want to say Yes God, bless us with your Holy Spirit, right now. He wants our obedience and He will bless it. As Christians, we need to live by obedience. we need to say YES to God today. Think of how awesome we ran our lives before we accepted Jesus. Yeah, we really know what we are doing.. Tony Hamilton, I am a master fisherman from the left side of the boat. Tony Hamilton by himself catching nothing.. Tony Hamilton with God.. blessings I can't even get them all in my boat, they are too numerous.
This leads us into our next point. We need to recognize the blessings we receive are from God.
We see in verse 7. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.”
2.RECOGNIZE We need to Recognize its God
We see that the disciples did not recognize Jesus at first. Sometimes it is hard to know its God who wanting to bless us. We are usually so busy doing it our way and failing and trying again, that we never even hear His voice. And when we do hear His voice to do something, we still ignore it so we can continue to do it our way. Well, from this wonderful story, we see that Peter's way of fishing got zero results. No fish.. None. Peter was going to go back to the hungry church and tell them all about the one that got away. But then Jesus shows up. Tells them to do it His way. Hey, throw your net over the right side, there is a blessing waiting for you there. And not just a blessing for you guys, but for the whole church. we need to know God's voice. We need to be in prayer and seeking wisdom in his Word to see how in every situation, God wants to bless us. He does not want us to fail in our marriages, with our kids, with our jobs, in school. He wants us to be blessed. He gave us our spouse, our kids, our jobs, our schools, our friends as blessings to us. So we need to stop doing things our way and ask God how should we do it. Peter and the disciples wasted all night fishing and got nothing. They did what Jesus told them and the blessing came instantly.
3.RESPOND We need to Respond to God
How did Peter respond? As soon as Peter heard him say It is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him for he had taken it off and jumped in the water. So, He got dressed out of respect and reverance for the Lord and he jumped in the water to go be with his friend as fast as he could. He couldn't even wait for the boat to come in. Worship should be an immediate response to God's blessings in our life. Thank you Jesus!!! Thank you Lord.. Just want to run into his arms and thank Him. Just want to worship Him for how good he is to us. Just want to run and be in His presence as much as I can. Also, when we feel blessed, we let the blessing overflow and we bless others. The best way to respond to a blessing from Jesus is to bless others. We as the church are in the blessing business. And like we said before, do not equate a blessing with money. It can be a money blessing, but blessing someone can come in many forms, try calling somebody, tell somebody you want to pray for them, invite somebody over. If there is a need in this church, financial, spiritual, emotional, it is our job to help and be the blessing. Also, in our community, in our world, we should be looking at ways to bless others. We should not be here just to receive blessings but to give blessings. He wants this church to be a blessing. This is cool to see, the fish caught were not just for Peter and the guys there, but for the whole church. 153 large fish can feed a lot of people.
Conclusion
I think everyone here has an empty fishing net in some part of their life. We need Jesus today to fill that net with a blessing. Well, Jesus is knocking on each of our hearts right now and wants to come in and fellowship with us as he did with the disciples over breakfast in our scripture today. Jesus is saying in Revelation 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. What a blessing. Jesus wants to come into our lives and fellowship with us everyday. Think how blessed you would be if everyday you started with Breakfast with Jesus.
So, Jesus is here today, right and Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:7 to “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. The real translation of this verse is Ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking. He may not bless right away, but we should still come before the giver of all good gifts and ask. LOrd, let your will be done. So, lets do this. I am going to ask anyone in this room that wants to seek, ask and knock for a blessing from God to come forward. God wants to speak to you today, wants to have an encounter with you today and remember, you never leave an encounter with Jesus empty handed. Whatever blessing you are seeking, salvation, healing, peace, wisdom, love, or the greatest of the Lord’s gifts here on Earth, The Holy Spirit come forward and ask. You will never receive unless you ask.
